Dominic Raab accuses David Davis of ‘dangerous socialist populism’

The Tories spent a great deal of time under the previous government pointing at Labour’s divisions, so it would be rude not to flag up the splits rocking the Tory party over the proposed Pfizer takeover of AstraZenica.

Cameron has said he wants assurances from Pfizer about British jobs and research facilities prior to its chief executive appearing before two commons committees on Tuesday.

David Davis – Cameron’s rivel for the Tory leadership in 2005 – has also called for the bid to be subjected to a public interest test. He added that he would support any move by Vince Cable towards a formal assessment of whether the bid was in the national interest.

Likewise Lord Sainsbury has attacked Pfizer’s £63bn takeover move, calling on the government to block any attempt to “dismember” a strategically important British company.

Yet according to comments by Tory MP Dominic Raab on page 20 of today’s Times, Vince Cable – and by extension David Davis – are giving in to “dangerous socialist populism”:

Now while we’re certainly aware that David David has more modest roots than most MPs, we weren’t aware that he went in for “dangerous socialist populism”. After all, this is the same David David who opposed putting taxes up for those earning over £150,000 a year and who voted against equal marriage for same sex couples.

Or could it be that those criticising Labour’s concerns about AstraZenica are the real extremists?

Considering that, according to YouGov, over half (55 per cent) of people think it’s a bad thing when British companies are taken over by foreign companies, it’s probably wise to assume so, especially when even the likes of Ukip appear to be concerned about the takeover.